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The term was coined by General Mola in a radio address during the Spanish Civil War ( 1936– 1939). As a Nationalist general he sent four of his army columns to capture Madrid, which was being defended at the time by the Republican forces. The general referred to his hidden supporters inside the capital as his fifth column.
Originally the term was used by Leon Trotsky as the name for the Fifth Army, which was founded as an elite military unit during the Russian Civil War.
In the aftermath Ernest Hemingway wrote his one and only play entitled The Fifth Column, which depicts the role of the two protagonists, a writer and a journalist, during warFor other uses of War, see War (disambiguation). War is conflict, between relatively large groups of people, which involves physical force inflicted by the use of weapons. Other terms for war include armed conflict hostilities and police action''. See Limtime. The title hints at the similarity of the protagonists with the supporters of Emilio Mola as both were performing "behind enemy lines" influence.